Electrical connectors typically include anywhere from 1 to over 50 electrical contacts. The connector, in some applications, includes three pieces or layers, a grommet, a wafer, and an insert. Each piece has passages through with contacts extend. A tubular bushing, mounted to the wafer by external shoulders on the bushing, captivates and holds the contact in place by the internal structure of the bushing. One such bushing is machined from cylindrical stock to a final shape which has external and internal shoulders for engaging shoulders on the wafer and the electrical contacts. Such bushings are generally expensive to manufacture because they require an expensive machine which further requires a considerable amount of time to set-up. Further, although the bushing is small, the weight of the machined bushing is greater than desirable when used in aerospace and aircraft applications where every ounce is critical. Another disadvantage is variations in length between contacts unless extremely close tolerances are observed.
To avoid these problems it has been suggested to manufacture contacts by a stamping and forming process. Contacts made by this process generally have the disadvantage that the portion which actually retains the contact is rather weak and does not effectively retain the electrical contact from accidental removal.
The foregoing and other limitations and disadvantages of the prior art electrical contact retention bushings will become apparent to those skilled in the art in view of the following description and the accompanying drawings.